The Feast of Pentecost

Religious holidays punctuate the calendar year and are good reasons to send greeting postcards. There are many postcards for Christmas and Easter, but Pentecost also has its treasures.

3 German postcards with a Whitsun theme.

The feast of Pentecost comes from the Greek Pentêcostê meaning the fiftieth day. It is in fact the fiftieth day after Easter that Pentecost is celebrated. Ten days after the Ascension, when Christ’s body ascended to heaven, the Apostles received the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire, as explained in the New Testament in the Book of Acts. The feast of Pentecost became popular as early as the 4th century and was given prominence by Vatican II. It is the religious celebration of the Holy Spirit and is invariably held on the 7th Sunday after Easter. In several European countries, including Germany, France and Belgium, the following day, Whit Monday, is a public holiday, which we celebrated on 29 May.

If today it would not occur to most people to send a Pentecost card, this was not the case in the past. Indeed, Delcampe has many postcards dedicated to this holiday, especially in the German speaking countries. Angels are often used to represent the Holy Spirit coming from heaven.

Want to discover more? You can find thousands of them on Delcampe!